RUGBY NEWS - Given what was riding on the game, with the prospect of touring with dented morale if they lost, it was understandable that DHL Stormers coach Robbie Fleck looked immensely relieved after his team’s 28-20 win over the Jaguares.
The Stormers started well and in the first half they had enough opportunities to win the game. Fleck believes they should have put the Jaguares away when Raymond Rhule scored his first try in Stormers colours straight after the break, but then what he viewed as early season rustiness made itself felt as the hosts became sloppy and discordant in the second half.
It resulted in the Jaguares coming back strongly and pressing for the win in the final minutes, when they trailed by just five points before a Damian Willemse penalty settled the result.
“I think that to say that we just left too many points on the table in that first half would be an understatement,” said Fleck.
“Our finishing just let us down in that first half. Perhaps it was rustiness, which is to be expected, and we have also had a lot of injuries that have forced a lot of late changes over the past few weeks. We also elected to play only two pre-season games and perhaps we felt that today. It will work for us later on though.
“I thought that in the second half we were guilty of making the wrong decision. We had so much reward in the first half by keeping the ball in hand, but in the second half we forgot that script. We ended up leaving a lot out there.”
But a win is a win, as the old saying goes and, as skipper Siya Kolisi pointed out, just getting the points for the victory was the be all and end all for the Stormers before heading off on a tour that will see them play the Waratahs in Sydney this coming Saturday before they clash with two recent Super Rugby champion teams, the Crusaders and Highlanders, in Christchurch and Dunedin respectively.
“I think in some ways it was a good thing that the game ended up being close. We did well to fight under pressure,” said Kolisi.
“All the focus this week was on what we were working on and we didn’t worry too much about the opposition. The focus was just on getting the win and we got that. It was very important to get the win today.”
Fleck said that while there was clearly lots to work on, his overall assessment was a fairly satisfactory one.
“We showed great character to get out of the hole we had dug for ourselves as the Jaguares got energised by their penalty try and they came at us strongly in that last quarter,” said Fleck.
